


Too Afraid to Love You

by jeffannies



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Idiots in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeffannies/pseuds/jeffannies
Summary: Happy Halloween!Here's some Halloween Jeff/Annie fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Jeff and Annie accidentally wear matching halloween costumes

She may have made a tiny mistake in picking out her Halloween costume this year.

The site says her dress should be an adult's size small, but considering how short and… revealing it is, Annie isn’t so sure.

She originally intended on being a nurse, not a sexy nurse. 

Britta is definitely not going to approve of this, she thinks as she stares at her reflection in the mirror. She can just imagine the feminist rant Britta will give on the male gaze... 

It’s not all that bad. She has to have the zip up as far as it can go to show minimal cleavage, and when paired with some stockings, the dress doesn’t look too short. It could be a lot worse, Annie remembers how inappropriate the other options looked.

At least she looks good in it. That's what counts, right?

She doesn’t really have time to do anything else with the outfit anyway. Most of her other clothes are packed away, ready for her move into Troy and Abed’s apartment and she doesn’t have another Halloween costume on hand either. She'll have to make do with the vaguely suggestive nurse outfit. It could be a lot worse after all.

Her thoughts are stopped by the sound of someone banging at her front door. She almost panics, wondering which one of her slightly scary neighbours it could be, until she remembers Jeff’s her ride to Shirley’s Halloween party tonight. Calm washes over her as she smiles to herself, pushing her hair behind her ear when she thinks about Jeff.

Not even a minute passes before he's knocking again, shouting something through the door.

“Annie, hurry up!”

“Wait a minute!” She calls from her room, giving herself time for one last lengthy look in the mirror. She flattens the skirt, pulls the zip up for extra measure, and slowly makes her way to the front door. "You're so impatient."

“You know Annie, patience is not something I’m known for….” Jeff says as she opens the door, but his voice lowers at the end of his sentence, when his eyes meet hers. 

Um. Wow. She looks incredible. This is definitely not something he’s fantasised about before… nope.

“Hey, I was only a minute,” she smiles up at him all innocently, as if she has no idea how good she looks in her little get-up. As if she has no idea that he's totally checking her out right now. He's not even being subtle, yet she's completely oblivious. 

Her eyes flicker downwards and she sees his outfit properly for the first time. It’s like a lightbulb flickers above their heads at the same time and they realise... 

“So a nurse, huh?” “You’re a doctor!” they say in unison, Annie's voice more shocked, Jeff's voice laced with a touch more concern. 

“Oh god. Everyone’s gonna think we planned this,” Jeff moans, the sudden realisation hitting him that them arriving together is definitely going to seem like they've co-ordinated some sort of couple's costume together. Like he needs all the questioning comments, judgemental looks and general drama that will arise from this. Great.

“It’s just a coincidence,” Annie offers with a laugh. “It doesn’t have to be awkward if we don’t let it.”

“You don’t understand,” he rolls his eyes at her.

In all he actually has to look away from her. He needs a break from the sight of her in her nurse costume, admiring her too much is kind of driving him crazy. 

“Forget it, let’s go.”

He’s mostly silent for the car journey to Shirley's, and Annie can just tell he’s thinking about how he can get out of people thinking they’ve planned their outfits. She can practically hear his mind at work, pre-planning a Winger speech to take the focus off their little costume mishap and onto something else. 

But she does have to admit - even if he can’t see it - it’s pretty funny.

“So why did you decide to be a doctor anyway?” she asks. “I thought you’d go for something… for lack of a better word, sexy.”

“Annie, I can make any Halloween costume look sexy,” he looks at her, the glow from the red light illuminating his features and making him look even more devilishly handsome.

She rolls her eyes in response, even if she is inclined to agree. She remembers how good he looked when he reluctantly dressed up as a cowboy, and as David Beckham. She's pretty sure he'd look good in any outfit, now that she thinks about it... Wiping her mouth, she turns away, trying to hide her rosy flush.

“Women love doctors and that’s a fact. I’ll be irresistible,” he winks.

“To who?”

“Everyone,” he shrugs.

She nods and stays silent, not wanting to tell him how right he is. She doesn't need to inflate his ego any more.

Besides, she can’t imagine him hitting it off with any of Shirley’s Greendale friends. It's kind of a relieving thought. 

-

“Jeff! You’re here,” Shirley coos when they arrive. He’s strategically walked in front so he’s spotted first, making it look like Annie’s copied his costume. How sneaky, Annie thinks.

She knows she definitely had this costume sorted way before him, she's a planner. Not that it matters now.

“Annie!” Shirley sings, but her mood falters when she spots the young girl’s costume. “Oh Annie, I thought you were one of the good ones!”

“Shirley!”

Britta walks over to her next, Annie thinks to herself how this moment could get any worse.

“Annie! What are you wearing?”

“Did you plan this with Jeff?” Shirley adds. “Oh honey, you don’t want to be anybody’s slutty nurse…”

“—and think of the gender stereotypes you’re perpetuating.”

“Guys, please!” Annie interrupts them, watching as they step back slightly aghast. “It was just a funny coincidence. And I also thought this costume was going to be a lot more… Age appropriate, trust me.”

“Women have always got to be a sexy version of something on those costume sites, Annie. That’s why you have to go for a costume like mine if you want to stick it to the man,” Britta gestures down to her crayon costume. It’s certainly a statement, Annie thinks.

“You look great, Britta,” Annie smiles.

“Well anyway, let’s go get you a drink,” Shirley takes her arm and leads her to the kitchen where Troy, Abed and Jeff are waiting for them. Pierce is nowhere to be seen but Annie doesn’t question it.

“Annie, nice,” Troy announces when she walks in, earning a glare off of Britta and Shirley.

“Did you plan this?” Abed asks, pointing between Jeff and Annie.

“No.” They say together. Jeff tries to look nonchalant.

“Classic,” Abed laughs, and says something about a classic tv trope that Jeff doesn't quite understand. He knows better than to comment on it.

“Seriously you look great,” Troy adds, handing Annie a drink.

“You guys didn’t compliment my costume!” Britta interjects, eyes darting between the boys. Her cheeks are flushed red, and she’s practically staring at Jeff and Troy like she wants to kick or kill them. Annie’s not sure which option is more likely right now, considering Britta’s tone, but she hopes the boys don't say something stupid to make the situation worse. 

“Uhhhhh,” Troy tries to think of a compliment.

“You make a great Crayon, Britta,” Jeff offers weakly.

Annie nearly facepalms.

“Typical,” Britta rolls her eyes and downs her beer, stalking out the kitchen in a huff.

“None of you complimented me either!” Shirley adds, following Britta out the room speedily.

“I would if I even know what she was,” Troy sighs. Abed nods in agreement, staring at Shirley’s outfit with his head tilted as if he’s trying to work it out himself.

“Does she always have to wear such nondescript costumes to these things?” Jeff says to no one in particular.

Everyone nods in agreement and the group disperses.

-

They leave Shirley’s fairly early, all of them shooed out the door with a brownie to-go in their hands. No one is really sure why Shirley decided to host a party if she was going to kick her guests out before 11pm, but they aren't complaining either. No one wants to spend more time than they have to with Shirley's family.

“Well, that was lame,” Jeff turns to Annie as they walk to his car. “I’m guessing you need a ride home?”

“That’d be nice.”

“You make a good nurse,” he smiles when he realises they’re finally alone again. And he means it, not just in the way that she looks ridiculously good in the outfit, which she absolutely does by the way. She did manage to sort out what happened to Troy's hand when he was left unsupervised in the kitchen.

Jeff's honestly surprised he’s resisted the urge to kiss her against the car door (or any surface, if he’s honest, over the course of the night. She really does look irresistibly good.

“You’d make an attractive doctor - like a TV one or something,” she laughs. His doctor outfit does make for interesting fantasy material… Dr Winger and Nurse Edison? She could probably write a romantic novel about those two. She knows what she's dreaming about tonight at least.

“What’s that guys name? Dreamy? McDreamface? That could be me.” He smiles smugly at her.

“You watch Grey’s Anatomy?”

“If nothing else is on,” he shrugs her question off as they climb into his car.

She laughs at him. She almost thinks it was meant to be, this awkward coincidence. They do make a surprisingly good pair, even if he doesn’t want to admit to it. They’ve been on enough capers together to know they have the right chemistry, a good rapport. And Annie does find him attractive, in and out of his scrubs. Actually, she’s fairly sure he could wear anything and she would still find him ridiculously hot, a fact she’d never share with him as to not address this weird spark between them. 

But it’s cute. She likes it, the fact that they could be mistaken for a couple. The fact that he kept smiling at her all night and stayed close even though he really didn’t have to. Come to think of it, he barely spent time with the other women Shirley had invited to her makeshift Halloween get together, even Britta. Plus, she even caught him checking her out a handful of times too. But what does it all mean?

This is Jeff she’s thinking about. The guy who can never give her a straight answer about anything when it comes to their star crossed dynamic. The very same Jeff that gives her those looks that she thinks might mean something, and then pats on the head and pushes her away and treats her like a child again.

It’s never going to be easy with him, is it?

There’s always going to mixed signals and confusion and the crushes and longing… She’s just accepted that as a fact now. Jeff is the perfect fantasy material - great to daydream about when she’s alone in her bedroom, but the reality of the situation is a lot more complex and seriously confusing.

“Tonight was surprisingly fun,” he says, Annie hadn’t realised how silent she must’ve been while she was sitting there thinking about him. Oops.

“Surprisingly?”

“Well yeah. I thought everyone was going to make a bigger deal out of this,” he gestures between them. “But it was actually kind of nice.”

“What? Having similar costumes?”

“Yeah. We looked good together.”

She can feel her cheeks getting warmer and no matter how hard she fights against it, her lips curl into a big smile as she watches him. He’s being sincere and it’s adorably sweet.

“We did,” she grins.

“So… I was thinking… How about you be my ring girl next year? I’ve got my costume planned too and I think you’ll like it”

“The ring girl? Weird choice, but okay…” she says as she gets out of his car.

He looks at her confused for a second. "I'll text you," he adds for good measure, loud enough so that she can hear as she walks away.

He can still smell her perfume lingering around the front seat, and smiles when he imagines her still sat next to him, in that little nurse’s outfit, coming home with him.

For a second, he finds himself wishing he’d kissed her goodnight at the very least.

Oh god, what has she done to him?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff's a little scared while at a haunted house, and Annie's more than happy to comfort him. 
> 
> Based off the prompt "can you wait for me?"

“Jeff? Just come on!” Annie grabs his hand and pulls him forward. The movement forces him into her, his body crashing into hers from behind. He almost blushes, and is glad she can’t turn around and see the flush on his cheeks as the dim lighting is concealing it well. He panics, lets go of her hand and freezes in place.

“You’re not scared, are you?” she asks, her voices soft and reassuring. He can just about hear her over the spooky sound effects booming out of an overhead speaker, it's more cringey than creepy in theory, but that doesn't stop his heart racing in his chest. 

She’s taken a few steps ahead, assuming he’s right behind her. He hasn't moved.

He takes a deep breath.

“No!” he rolls his eyes at her, but she doesn't believe him. She's already made note of the fearful flicker in his eyes that she noticed when they first stepped foot insides Greendale’s makeshift haunted house. She finds it kind of sweet that he seems afraid, but she finds herself wondering why too. It’s not like she’ll ever know, he would never be willing to talk about it. So instead, she just tries to offer comfort and distraction, hoping it helps.

“Can you wait for me?” he says a little too shakily for his own liking.

“Just hold my hand,” she holds out hers for him to take, and squeezes gently when their hands meet. He smiles at the sudden rush of emotion that takes over, replacing those dark thoughts in his mind with Annie-centric ones, ones that always make him smile. 

He’s glad she doesn’t press the issue further, mostly because he’d doesn’t dare admit that he’s the slightest bit creeped out.

And ok, maybe it did have something to do with that haunted house place his dad dragged him to once, and promptly left him inside of so he could sneak off and flirt with one of the actresses, but Jeff doesn’t want to talk about that. He doesn’t even want to think about it.

It’s only now that he realises that they’ve lost all the others. Everyone else must have ran off at that first jump scare. Now that he thinks about it, he does partially remember watching some people getting chased off by an actor, he just assumed they were strangers in his barely-focused state.

So now Jeff and Annie are alone together. He’s not complaining, she is good company after all and it is much less embarrassing being this terrified in front of just her than in front everyone else.

They take a few steps forward, tentatively and slowly. Annie must have tried to calculate areas she thinks the next jump scares might happen, because she winces slightly in anticipation a second before a badly dressed killer clown pops out behind a wall and screams at them.

Jeff’s a little embarrassed at the noise that comes out his mouth. He’s thankful that it’s drowned out by Annie’s screams.

“Run!” she yells and he doesn’t argue with her. They start sprinting down the dark hallway, dodging another actor that jumps out from behind a curtain with a bloody chainsaw in his hands, both screaming when he comes into view.

“We might as well try and find the others,” Annie shouts above the ghoulish howls that echo around them as they rush through a new room. Jeff’s barely paying attention at this point, focusing his eyes on the back of Annie’s Minnie Mouse costume - and yeah, she definitely looks cute.

He’d usually be thinking about how good she looks, how badly he wants to kiss her when she looks at him with those big, piercing blue eyes of hers, but he’s too busy trying to focus on lowering his heart beat and how to not feel completely breathless.

“Annie,” he warns when they turn a corner a bit too fast for his liking, but she doesn’t hear him amongst the thunder soundtrack they’ve started playing, and before he can repeat himself, a ghost jumps out ahead of them and scares them senseless.

Annie flinches back, huddling her body into Jeff’s arms and covering her face while she screams. He’s screaming too, and as soon as it’s over and the ghost goes back to his hiding place, they both burst into a fit of laughter.

“Oh my god!” she says through giggles. “I’m glad we came here, this is fun.”

He smiles at her, noticing the way she hasn’t moved out of his embrace. She feels warm in his arms, all soft and comforting. Exactly what he needs right now. He doesn’t want to let go, and she hasn’t been in a rush to turn away either, so he tries not question how good it all feels. 

“You okay?” she turns her face up towards him, her bright blue eyes twinkling at him.

“Better now,” he says and doesn’t care how cheesy it sounds. He loves the way his words make her cheeks all rosy, watching the colour spread across her features as she bats her eyelashes at him.

It’s the least romantic setting possible, with horror sound effects booming in the background and screaming all around them, but he can’t help himself. She’s there, smiling up at him, as if challenging him to do it.

So he obliges. His lips find hers quickly and he kisses her slowly and chastely. 

It’s not long before she leans up on her tip toes, wrapping her fingers around the nape of his neck, and pulls him in closer. Her tongue licks his bottom lip teasingly and he moans into her mouth, letting her deepen the kiss. They stand intertwined for a while, lost in the taste and feel and sensation of kissing each other and being this close after so long.

He didn’t realise he could miss kissing someone so much.

“Uh, excuse me?” One of the actors approaches them, tapping Jeff’s shoulder.

Abruptly breaking apart, Annie turns red as she makes eye contact with the teenage boy in front of them. He can't be older than 16, not with that haircut and those braces, Jeff thinks. He feels for the kid, having to stop a 30-something year old man and his not-girlfriend from making out in the middle of a fairground attraction.

“Can you guys keep moving please? You’re holding up the people behind you.”

Without a word, Annie grabs Jeff’s hand and pulls him away, running speedily through the room. She laughs loudly, out of both embarrassment and enjoyment, and Jeff can’t even remember why he felt so scared before. With Annie, the bad feelings start to disappear.

He doesn’t care that they’ve lost the others or that they’re still god knows where inside this hell hole. Annie’s there, smiling at him, holding his hand, kissing his cheek sneakily when it looks like they’re alone, and he’s pretty sure that makes this one of the best Halloweens ever.


End file.
